Teach Early Years - Issue 14.2

SUPPORTING EMOTIONAL REGULATION IN THE EARLY YEARS Co-regulate before you educate – children need to feel safe before they can learn. Name the emotion – help children recognise and label how they feel. Create calm spaces – use sensory tools, quiet corners and predictable routines. Model emotional language – talk aloud about your own feelings and how you manage them. Reflect later, not in the moment – wait until a child is calm before discussing what happened. Support staff – set aside time for professional development and professional reflection as a group and as individuals. Dr Mine Conkbayir’s Keep Your Cool Toolbox is a great resource: keepyourcooltoolbox.com Self-reflect – consider your own emotional standpoint; how are you looking after yourself to enable you to look after others? calm and emotionally present during moments of distress. Our provision is created with self- regulation in mind, with quiet areas, sensory stations, and calm aesthetics. Daily routines are predictable, transitions are softened, and children are involved in decisions. We also pay close attention to the five domains of stress described by Stuart Shanker – biological, cognitive, social, emotional and prosocial (bit.ly/4ovYLZ4 ) – and strive to reduce pressure across all five. Moreover, staff speak openly about their own mood: “I’m feeling a bit tired today, I think I’ll do some exercise, will you join me?” so that children hear and see what regulation looks like. Underpinning this, our behaviour policy has become a regulation policy. It underscores our belief that children’s behaviour is communication, and we need to respond with empathy first, before guiding reflection once the child is calm. In making this step, we have built a robust culture of regulation, grown from within, through discussion, agreement and time. When big emotions do surface we follow a set of steps that draw from the progressive thinking of Stuart Shanker, Dr Mine Conkbayir MBE and Kate Silverton (bit.ly/47l3bvn ), which provides staff with a clear and compassionate process: 1. Name and validate the feeling and the evident emotion. 2. Offer reassurance to communicate that it’s okay to feel this emotion. 3. Reduce stressors through a hug, quiet space, or sensory support such as a weighted blanket. 4. Restore energy through exercise, time in nature and distraction. 5. Reflect together with the child (when they’re ready) about what happened, what could have happened, and what we’d look to do next time. WHAT WE’VE SEEN A year on, we can see significant changes. Our children speak with emotional awareness and empathy. They comment on one another’s feelings, offer support, and articulate what helps them feel better. We’ve heard children say things like, “I feel fizzy, it’s too loud in here,” or “X is frustrated – I can help, I’ll play trains with them.” These aren’t just sweet moments; they’re evidence of deep, A “downstairs brain” , which is in charge of survival, constantly scans for threats and triggers stress responses such as fight, flight, freeze or fawn. An “upstairs brain” , which handles rational thinking, language, focus and decision-making – but only when the child feels safe and regulated. When a child experiences stress – anything from a snatched toy to a loud noise – the connecting staircase between the upstairs and downstairs brain falls away (as in the child, it is not yet secure) and the two brains fail to work as one, with the downstairs, emotive brain dominating. Another way to understand this is described by the term “flipping the lid”, with the upper rational, thinking brain disconnecting or flipping up from the more developed lower brain, making reasoning impossible. Dr Dan Siegel’s hand model vividly illustrates this (tinyurl.com/TEYdsbr ), showing that regulation can only happen once the brain feels safe again. developing emotional literacy. We know our journey is not complete. We’re proud that we’ve received recognition through securing the EYFS Setting of the Year award at the 2025 Tes Schools Awards, but we know there is much more we can do. We continue to offer CPD, review policies, and run workshops for families. We want every adult in our community (not just those in the EYFS) to understand more about how children’s brains work, and how emotional wellbeing underpins learning and metacognition across the curriculum. Find out more at tes.com/schools- awards Children learn to regulate because they have adults who co-regulate with them So, instead of asking, “How do we stop this behaviour?” we began to ask, “What does this child need right now to feel safe and understood?” A CULTURE OF CO-REGULATION Self-regulation doesn’t develop in isolation. Children learn to regulate because they have adults who co-regulate with them. We stay close, Teachearlyyears.com 41